Wednesday, July 26, 2017

One of the elements I appreciated in the current Detroit Historical Museum exhibit on the civil unrest in Detroit in 1967 was its analysis of the media coverage. One panel lists what elements that we might expect today were missing.

For television coverage, a space designed to evoke a middle class living room displayed footage on screens resembling vintage sets. As you'll see from the articles included in this post, the Canadian coverage followed a similar playbook.

As the disturbance grew the morning of July 23, authorities urged the media to avoid or downplay reports, in order to maintain calm. It quickly became impossible to hide what was going on. CKLW-TV (now CBET) provided the first local TV report around 2 p.m. Soon, reporters from outside the region began descending on the region.

The Windsor Star initially ordered its employees to stay out of Detroit, threatening to dismiss anyone who did. According to Herb Colling's book Turning Points, the paper's executive editor was "concerned about the safety of his staff and about insurance coverage and liability, especially if someone is injured or killed." Reporters grew demoralized as peers from London and Toronto headed across the border. The paper's bureaus in Chatham and Sarnia went ahead and sent staff across, but they had to send their reports to other papers.

By the morning of July 25, the Windsor Star reversed its decision and allowed its staff to cross the river. Among the first were first were Walter McCall and Kevin Doyle, who opened their eyewitness account with the following description:

The city many Windsorites regard as an extension
of their own was struggling to return to normal this morning. But Detroit will
somehow never be the same. Commuters, most of whom had not seen Detroit since they left
their jobs Friday, were confronted with grim and often shocking sights as they
slowly filtered back to work today. Khaki-clad militiamen, their rifles slung
over their shoulders, looked strangely out of place patrolling back and forth
in front of Hudson’s. Convoys of Michigan State Police cruisers, bristling with
automatic weapons, threaded their way around barricades blocking the entrances
to side streets.

Over the course of the day, revised front pages updated the body count. Reports updated the situation at the border, where restrictions were gradually eased. Tunnel bus service resume and commuters were allowed to cross, but those curious to see the riot for themselves continued to be turned back.

One article outlined the effects on Windsor's nightlife. Clubs which depended on American audiences, such as the Elmwood Casino, Metropole, and Top Hat, cancelled their shows. Downtown bars reported healthy business from those who came down to watch what was unfolding across the river.

Emancipation Day, which I'll discuss in more detail in an upcoming post, is a longstanding tradition celebrating the abolition of slavery. As the following story notes, it became a touchy topic for those prone to participating in call-in radio shows.

London Free Press, July 25, 1967.

Papers seized upon the statements of radicals and hotheads, with varying degrees of shock value. They also played up the atmosphere being carnival-like in some spots.

London Free Press, July 25, 1967. Click on image for larger version.

London Free Press, July 25, 1967. Click on image for larger version.

London Free Press, July 25, 1967.

We move on to coverage from Toronto...

Globe and Mail, July 25, 1967. Click on image for larger version.

Globe and Mail, July 25, 1967.

Canadian papers noted how looting was a multiracial effort, though while reading some reports I had the sinking feeling that's a familiar strain: blacks who engage in such activity are dangerous, while whites are just having a good time. The Globe and Mail went with an AP report.

The paper sent two of its reporters, including future longtime Toronto Sun columnist Gary Dunford, to be their "Star man on the scene."

Toronto Star, July 25, 1967.

Toronto Star, July 25, 1967.

A pair of pieces contrasted Detroit and Windsor:

Toronto Star, July 25, 1967. Click on image for larger version.

Toronto Star, July 25, 1967. Click on image for larger version.

The Telegram sent reporter Robert MacBain into Detroit. His key quote on the front page: "Seventeen cases of foaming detergent couldn’t
have made me feel any whiter than I did yesterday in the heart of the
burned-out and looted west side.”

Front page, the Telegram, July 25, 1967. Click on image for larger version.

Here's the rest of MacBain's report:

The Telegram, July 25, 1967. Click on image for larger version.

The Telegram's editorial:

The Telegram, July 25, 1967.

Filling in for Telegram TV critic Bob Blackburn, Kathy Brooks criticized CBC's Newsmagazine program for spending more time covering the fallout from Charles deGaulle's visit to Quebec. "Discussions about news judgement rarely get anyone anywhere," Brooks wrote, "but this time, in the long run, a rising death toll in a race riot seems more important than what kind of flag was flying on President de Gaulle's ship."

Monday, July 24, 2017

A police raid on a “blind pig” (an unlicensed drinking
venue) at 12th Street and Clairmount Avenue in the early morning
hours of July 23, 1967 provided the fuse for five days of civil unrest in
Detroit. Whether you call what happened that week a rebellion, riot, or
uprising, the repercussions are still evident around the city, and remain a
well-debated subject.

Given Detroit’s proximity to Canada, the events that
unfolded affected Windsor, and were commented on elsewhere around the country.
What I aim to do with these posts is show Canadian reaction to the events in Detroit,
primarily from newspapers in Toronto and Windsor.

This series grew from several streams of things I’ve done
over the past year:

Collecting newspaper stories: Side stories I saved while
researching Canada’s centennial, others I tracked down out of personal
interest.

Museum visits: if you’re visiting Detroit during the next
two years, I highly recommend the Detroit Historical Museum’s Detroit 67:Perspectives exhibit, and its accompanying online material.

Some of this material was originally gathered for a piece I
was going to write for an online publication, but was abandoned due to other
commitments and finding many side stories about race in Essex County during the
1960s. These stories I want to explore further, and will write about as time
permits. I’m still digesting some of these events around Amherstburg and Harrow,
stories never discussed during my formative years which are eye-opening (but
not terribly shocking).

Part of an exhibit on 1967 in Windsor on display at the Chimczuk Museum. Photo taken July 9, 2017.

In his book Turning Points: The Detroit Riot of 1967, A
Canadian Perspective, Herb Colling describes the atmosphere in Windsor as July
23 wore on.

For most people in Windsor, July 23 is a normal summer
Sunday with church attendance, swim meets, backyard barbecues and picnics in
the park but, by afternoon, the reality of racial turmoil is literally burned
into the Canadian consciousness. At 2:00 p.m., the first smudges of black smoke
in Detroit are visible from Windsor. As darkness falls, five major fires burn
several blocks apart; their flames reflect orange and pink off the clouds.

All afternoon, Windsorites congregate in waterfront parks on
the border to watch the smoke and listen for sounds of the riot. Teenage boys
sit on the hoods of their cars or lean against break walls as they hug their
girlfriends protectively. They gossip with picnickers and fishermen, point and
exclaim every time they see a new disturbance. In Canada, the riot is a uniting
force, a powerful draw for a shocked people with a morbid fascination—a horror
on one hand and yet an excitement that something significant is happening in their
own backyard.

Curiosity over what was going on created traffic jams along
Riverside Drive. “Most of the time [the fires] appeared as dull, rosy glows
against the skyline,” the Windsor Star reported, “but every now and then a
tongue of flame shot into the air in a spectacular burst visible for miles” A
band concert scheduled for Dieppe Gardens that evening went ahead, with the
smoke providing a backdrop. Reading the descriptions feels like there was an element of spectator sport going on among those who gathered on the waterfront, with the mix of awe and horror that accompanies watching crashes.

There was a limit to how much Windsorites could fulfill
their curiosity. By 9 p.m. the border was closed except for emergency personnel
and those who could prove they had legitimate business or pre-scheduled
vacations allowed to cross into the United States. Tunnel bus service was
suspended. Chrysler workers were sent home when parts were held up in Detroit.
People were stuck on either side of the border, resulting in nights spent with
friends and relatives, jammed phone lines, and hotels on the outskirts of
Windsor filled to capacity. Some Detroiters jumped in their boats and sailed
over to Canada.

The closest piece to editorial comment that day was Lubor Zink’s column in the Telegram,
which I suspect was in the can before unrest broke out in Detroit. Commenting
on black riots throughout the United States in recent years, the eternal Red-fighter
naturally detected “Communist complicity” in what was going down.